Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the CONFEDERATE STATES --

CSS Little Rebel (1862)

CSS Little Rebel, a 161-ton screw steamer, was built
in 1859 at Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, as the civilian vessel
R. & J. Watson. In early 1862, she was converted at New
Orleans into a ram for the Confederacy's Mississippi River Defense
Fleet. Little Rebel went up the river to Fort Pillow, Tennessee,
in April 1862. There, on 10 May, she joined in an attack on Federal
gunboats and continued to assist in the defense of Fort Pillow
until it was evacuated on 1 June. In the naval action off Memphis
on 6 June, Little Rebel was run aground and captured. She
was taken into Federal service and served for the rest of the
Civil War as USS Little Rebel. Sold in 1865, she was employed
as the merchant ship Spy until about 1874.

Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 2049

"Battle of Fort Pillow, First position"

Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval
Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States
..." (1877), depicting the action between the Confederate
River Defense Fleet and Federal ironclads near Fort Pillow, Tennessee,
10 May 1862.
Confederate ships, seen at right, include (from left to right):
General Earl Van Dorn, General Sterling Price,
General Bragg, General Sumter and Little Rebel.
The Federal ironclads, in the center and left, are (from left
to right): Mound City, Carondelet and Cincinnati.
A Federal mortar boat is by the river bank in the lower right.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 505 pixels

Photo #: NH 42755

"Battle of Fort Pillow, 3rd Position"

Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval
Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States
..." (1877), depicting the action between the Confederate
River Defense Fleet and Federal ironclads near Fort Pillow, Tennessee,
10 May 1862.
Confederate ships, seen at left, include: Colonel Lovell,
General Beauregard, General M. Jeff Thompson, General
Bragg, General Sumter, Little Rebel and General
Earl van Dorn.
The Federal ironclads, in the center and right, are: Carondelet,
Cincinnati, Mound City, Benton, Saint
Louis, Cairo and Pittsburg. A tug is seen in
the right foreground.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 435 pixels.

Photo #: NH 58891

"The Great Naval Battle before Memphis, June 6, 1862"

Engraving after a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's
Weekly", depicting the action between the Confederate River
Defense Fleet and Federal warships off Memphis, Tennessee.
In the center foreground the CSS General Beauregard is
being rammed by the Federal ram Monarch. At left are the
disabled Federal ram Queen of the West and the Confederate
ships General Sterling Price and Little Rebel.
Other Federal ships are in the center and left distance, with
other Confederate ships in the center and right middle distance.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 310 pixels

Photo #: NH 42367

"The Total Annihilation of the Rebel Fleet by the Federal
Fleet under Commodore Davis."
"On the Morning of June 6th 1862, off Memphis, Ten."

Lithograph by Middleton, Strobridge & Co.
In the foreground, the print depicts the Confederate ships (from
left to right): General M. Jeff Thompson (shown sinking);
Little Rebel (shown burning); General Sterling Price;
General Beauregard (shown being rammed by the Ellet Ram
Monarch); General Bragg (shown aground) and Colonel
Lovell (shown sinking).
In the background are the Federal warships (from left to right):
Queen of the West; Cairo; Carondelet; Louisville;
Saint Louis; a tug; and Benton.
The city of Memphis is in the right distance, with a wharf boat
by the shore.